dracil

Whoops, completely overslept and thus wasn't able to go to the API conference in Berkeley.

But continued with the second plan of the day to meet Xia at the House of Prime Rib. She was 30 minutes late, but it was all good. While waiting I saw someone unexpected. She looked subconsciously familiar but I couldn't recognize her so I kinda stared for a moment, looked down, then looked back up and finally recognized her when she also acknowledged knowing me. She was here with her parents and some other people. And I knew who she was but I couldn't quite remember the name. I'm not sure she remembered mine either since neither of us said each other's name. But I did remember afterwards. It was Rilene! Didn't see her again afterwards though. =/

So let's see, bread was standard fare, sourdough and hot, which is good since a lot of restaurants serve cold bread. For the salad we were actually presented with chilled forks which is the first time I've had something like that. I had baked potato and she had the mashed potato. They were both pretty normal fare, but the baked potato is a little more special with the bacon and chives and sourcream. Didn't finish it though. Same with the creamed spinach, which wasn't bad, but compared to the prime rib, the prime rib came first. I got the King Henry VIII Cut and she had the House of Prime Rib cut. Mine was nice and thick and came with a bone and it was VERY tender. :D It was also a little more bloody than expected. Ordered medium but it was more like medium-rare I think. But maybe that's just how prime ribs are.

Got the second slices which were very thin but still good. I ate Xia's portion since she couldn't finish it.

We also heard 4 birthday celebrations over the course of the meal.

Afterwards went to Circuit City for a bit while waiting for her to be picked up.

Note: She owes me $10, to be paid back when I go down to Mountain View next time.
Currently feeling very satisfied

dracil

http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/

It's 5 minutes long. Don't read the creator's comments until you're done playing.

Use the arrow keys to move around.

Can't say too much else without spoiling it.
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5586409.html

Seems like many of the girls I talk to who finds out that I like Obama and really dislike Clinton ends up asking if I'm against her because she's a woman. O_o

So lately I've begun retorting by asking or saying that's like not voting for Obama because he's black or because of his name.

No, it's not because she's a woman. It's because she's Hillary. She pretends she has experience when her experience has been shown to be of questionable value. She has experience in a system that doesn't work. She's too partisan to make it work anyway. She acts as if she *deserves* to be president and then throws a tantrum when things look bad and seems to be going for a win-at-all-cost mentality, even if it hurts the party or people in general. Unfortunately, stuff like that DOES bring out some very bad stereotypes. If anything, she's been using the fact she's a woman to twist people's arms. Just look at the week of Obama bashing in the media because she cried about a supposed bias against her because she's a woman. What a pushover media.

Ask yourself this, would you be voting for her if she *wasn't* a woman? If the answer is no, you really shouldn't be voting for her.

If you're that desperate and sexist enough to require a woman president, move to the Philippines. They're on their second one already. Or Liberia. Yes, Africa already has a woman president. Quite ironic given what's going on in the US. In comparison, has there been a black president in a non-black country yet?

No, I don't think people voting for Obama simply because he's black is any better, but demographics-wise, Clinton has the advantage here by about 4:1 and she's still losing. I think that says something.

An opinion in contrast to the first article. http://lightfromtheruins.blogspot.com/2008/03/may-i-advance-notiona-woman-may-dislike.html

Also, unverified dirty tactics for tomorrow. http://trailblazers.beloblog.com/archives/2008/03/caucus-strategy.html

And Hillary essentially endorses McCain over Obama.


As usual, I get most of my stuff from Penny Arcade forums and dailykos.org. If you want pro-Clinton/anti-Obama bias, go to mydd.com

Just for fun (The Onion).
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

After several months of delay, finally got to watch the movie.

We all contributed a bit. Jenny helps us get Chinese takeout from Davis (good, really liked the Peddle Dry Noodle I ordered), it was Cat's movie, and I brought some chocolates for dessert.

Movie itself was nice. I'm kinda partial to rats/rodents though since I've had so many types of pets before, including hamsters, and I've worked with lab mice before.

Also exchanged DVDs with Cat (Futurama for Family Guy)

Oh, and Gary Gygax, the father of RPGs died today.

Currently feeling happy

dracil

Not sure if it was some guy's tribute to Gary Gygax, but saw a D20 die on the sidewalk this morning.


Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

Had nice long afternoon tea with Joyce today.

Didn't realize our offices were this close till last month (just 3 blocks). We went to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Embarcadero 4. Had a double vanilla tea latte. Because I had to wait a while for her to finish some stuff, she offered to pay for it (thanks Joyce! :D). Also gave her the White Day stuff a week early since I won't see her again until Easter.

The Embarcadero Center area is actually pretty nice, though I don't usually go that far up.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Proof what I said earlier about Clinton's gender being a bigger boosting factor than Obama's race was.

http://purplestatepundit.com/blog/election08/quantitative-analysis-are-ferraros-claims-accurate/

dracil

Met up with Michelle, David C., Lisa, their parents, and Hung-Tzu for lunch at Myconos and then checked out the church for their wedding.

Oh, while waiting for them, I saw a dog walking another dog (carrying its leash). Wish I'd brought my camera.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Heh, long day.

Got up later than usual, had a baby shower potluck at work, then went to see Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers and The Voyeurs with Cat after work. Had a very late dinner at Thai Basil, and then went home.

I'll probably expand this entry tomorrow.

So the first film was a documentary about prostitutes. This would make it the 2nd such documentary I've seen. The one I saw before was more from the narrator's point of view showing a young girl getting sold by her parents and I think several years of her life after that. This one, it was entirely narrated by the prostitutes, which was an odd feeling, because aside from crying, they spoke rather emotionlessly about their situation as they want about their daily life, sometimes talking to each other, also rather emotionlessly.

The Voyeurs was more interesting. Got one of the songs stuck in my head later. Totally didn't expect the ending though.

As for dinner, she wanted Sushi House, and I wanted Steve's Korean BBQ. Both were closed which is why we settled on Thai House, which was actually rather expensive relatively. The fried rice is more expensive than the Chinese restaurants here in Sunset which I thought was already rather expensive (as compared to Bay Fung Tong in the Richmond).
Currently feeling exhausted

dracil

Reading Chinese people talk about Tibet is like reading conservative Republicans talk about Iraq, esp. from a few years back.

If you want to use force and kill people badly, go back and kill them yourself.

Currently feeling annoyed

dracil

Lunch with Cat. Got stuff at Delica RF-1. Both thought it was pretty good. I liked it better than the first time I got it. Maybe 'cause it was actually hot this time or maybe 'cause I was eating it with company. But anyway, good way to spend a pretty nice day (though a bit windy).

Internet's been really wonky. Think I got disconnected 10+ times tonight. Think the modem is dying.
Currently feeling sleepy

dracil

Plans never go perfectly.

Saturday

Sunday, had to pick up tickets from Cat's friend, and also had to go to Best Buy, and then meet up. Logistically it had the potential to go very wrong, but it actually went pretty smoothly. Catherine gave me a Cranium card game to make up for that. Thanks!

We ate at Unicorn and I liked the stuff we ordered. The rice paper was very unique and cool. Garlic noodles was good too. Butterfish needed a bigger portion. Dessert was fine too.

The movie though... we got there slightly late, and had to sit at the very front, which actually wasn't *too* bad except for a weird angle and the movie itself was actually kinda boring. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep.

Went over to Sweetheart's to meet up with her housemates and friend, then I went home first since I had something else the next day.

Sunday

Only managed to get 3.5 hours of sleep. Went for the earliest possible Bart, and went for an earlier bus just in case. The first bus that came was out of order, so my carefulness kinda paid off (but not really, given that the bus I should've taken did come on time anyway, but if I was supposed to miss the first bus no matter what, then yeah, this planning paid off ). Did day pass at Caltrain from Zone 2-3, forgetting I was gonna need to come back from Zone 4. Doh. Then while almost at my destination Joyce told me that I need to go to the San Jose station instead 'cause the church was gonna be at a different place. Uh oh. Luckily, the conductor didn't mind for me to stay that extra 3 stops. :D Speaking of which, both the Bart and Caltrain drivers were really perky this morning and saying stuff weirdly like "Have a waffle Easter"

We got there late, but the actual service was even later so it was all good. It wasn't bad. This is the very first Protestant service I've attended without falling asleep, especially given my lack of sleep. I think that's saying something. Several years back when I was more exploring, I took my constant falling asleep as a sign. I wonder if this is another sign then. Haha.

Met Suanne, Hector, Colin, Iris, Isaac, and one more person whose name I no longer remember. They took us out for lunch since we were newcomers (oh yeah, my original restaurant choice didn't work either since we were at a different place, I do still want to try it out some day). We ate at Family Delight at Milpitas. Afterwards, we went to a different plaza so Joyce could buy some manga (Detective Conan). Also found out Ay-Chung Noodles had been sold and renamed to Lu Gang.

Then went over to catch our movie. Met up with Suanne's group momentarily but we ended up sitting by ourselves (better seats ). The thing we saw, Love, Actually was REALLY good. It was 10 different short films together, all about love. I really liked over half of them, there were 2-3 that were more eh or weird.

For dinner, was supposed to eat at McCormick & Schmick's but I wrote the wrong address down (Sonoma Chicken Coop). We ended up eating at this Thai place called Thepthai which actually wasn't bad. It actually felt more authentic than a lot of Thai places I've been to in the US even though when we first went in we thought the place didn't look good (empty, quiet, lighting was bad), but as it got darker, the lighting made the place look better and they did put on some music.

Then caught the last Caltrain home. Fun weekend. :D
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Way too much fanservice (not the sexual kind, just way over-the-top stylish fighting) but very well done. Probably better than a lot of professional stuff actually.




Currently feeling impressed

dracil

While having lunch with Cat at Medicine Eatstation today, she remarked that I pronounce some words the British way (slight British accent). I guess it's because I had both British and American teachers at ISB.

Anyway, food was tasteful and had good texture. Mostly vegetarian stuff there. The two things we originally wanted they didn't have (salmon and ahi), so we went with whitefish and croquette instead, which were fine.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Dinner with Cat at Out the Door today. It's basically a second Slanted Door. Think I liked the Vietnamese spring rolls the most. Afterwards we had some CocoaBella Chocolates. They were very very pretty and interesting. Unlike Recchiuti Confections, it's less pure chocolate as I think every single thing we had had some non-chocolate fillings. But it was tasty. Then we browsed Borders for a bit before heading home.
Currently feeling sleepy

dracil

Mmm, long day. So went down to San Jose again to watch this and cheer for Taiwan. Had dinner at the Hally K Ono Cafe nearby with Joyce. I really liked it. It's basically a residential house that's being used as a cafe so it was really interesting.

As for the event itself, the people wouldn't let us bring the signs Joyce made inside though. Eric came halfway through. Taiwan actually kinda sucked. 8 out of 10, ahead of HK and Singapore. US won pretty much everything.

Thank you Joyce, for the Taiwanese snacks.

May write more later. Sleep now.
Currently feeling tired

dracil

http://www.livescience.com/health/080320-clueless-guys.html

It's interesting, but as people have pointed out, it's a flawed, and possibly sexist article.

In a nutshell, men think women being friendly means they wanna have sex. And they think women who wanna have sex are only being friendly.

And their basis is that women do better reading non-verbal communication from women than men.

So... what about a study comparing their ability to read non-verbal communication from men?

Until that's done, this study may very well also be called Clueless Women Can't Send Unambiguous Signals.

On a related note, from something else I read, contrary to conventional wisdom, women are the ones who make the first move 90% of the time with all these subtle non-verbal communication that they suck at sending/men suck at reading.

Currently feeling amused